Tag Archives: Social Security

Lord Ismay, the first Secretary-General of NATO, stated, in 1957, that the organization’s goal was “to keep the Russians out, the Americans in and the Germans down.”

This is now forgotten.

Last week, the British withdrew almost all of their troops from Germany. A token force of 185 is remaining, with an additional 60 Ministry of Defense civilians. There were 19,100 troops until recently.

At the weekend, President Trump threatened to withdraw Americans troops from the country.

“The US has threatened to withdraw thousands of troops stationed in Germany amid a dispute with Angela Merkel’s government over defence spending.

“Richard Grenell, the US ambassador in Berlin, warned that his country could pull out some of its forces if Germany continues to fall short of the alliance’s spending target of 2 per cent of GDP.

“It is actually offensive to assume that the US taxpayer must continue to pay to have 50,000-plus Americans in Germany, but the Germans get to spend their surplus on domestic programs,” Mr. Grenell told Germany’s DPA news agency.

“The remarks will add to concerns that the NATO alliance is becoming strained by President Trump’s impatience with German military spending.” (Justin Huggler, Daily Telegraph, 8/9)

The British withdrawal from the EU leaves Germany without any challenger in the EU. The withdrawal of troops makes it more likely that Europe will pursue an independent military policy.

The Bible prophesies the rise of a European military, political and economic power at the end time (Revelation 17:12-14).

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GERMANY TO LEAD EU IN PERSIAN GULF NAVAL OPERATION

(Own report) – German military experts have presented their first concrete plans for an EU naval operation in the Persian Gulf. According to the draft of two well-connected government advisors and a Bundeswehr professor, warships should be cruising at the two entrances to the Strait of Hormuz. Supplementary warships should escort oil tankers through the strait with armed troops on board to ward off possible attacks – depending on the disposition to escalate. This would necessitate “between 10 and 30 percent of the EU’s naval capacities,” and Berlin should be in command of the deployment to demonstrate its aspiration to shape global policy. Whereas sectors of the SPD and the opposition reject the operation, the chancellor and foreign ministry are promoting the plan also within the EU. Previously, Foreign Minster Heiko Maas had rejected the US demand for Germany to deploy warships in a US-led naval mission in the Middle East. Berlin is positioning itself to be an independent power in global politics. (German Foreign Policy, 8/15)

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PELOSI THREATENS BREXIT

If there is no deal with the EU on Brexit, Nancy Pelosi threatens the proposed trade deal between Britain and the US.

The reason is simple. Leo Varadkar is against it. He’s the Irish PM and does not want the British to leave the EU, thereby bringing back the border between Britain and Ireland.

Ms. Pelosi, a Catholic (except on abortion), sympathizes with Ireland on this issue.

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WASHINGTON TO FOLLOW DETROIT

“Washington is headed where Detroit once was” was the headline in the “Think” section of the Detroit News August 1st. In an article by Alison Acosta Winters and Russell Latino, the authors wrote: “The U.S. House of Representatives just passed a two-year budget deal that will bust the spending cap by $320 billion and put our country on a fiscal trajectory that the Congressional Budget Office called its “worst case scenario.”

“Worst case,” indeed.

“At a time when the federal debt has surpassed $22 trillion, lawmakers have voted not to address the explosion of debt, but to add to it. Over the next decade, the latest bipartisan budget deal will increase federal debt by $1.7 trillion beyond the already-baked-in debt of $12.4 trillion.

“Fiscal watchdog groups from across the political spectrum slammed the deal as reckless and irresponsible. The nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget said the deal “may end up being the worst budget agreement in our nation’s history.”

“This week the 2020 presidential campaign came to Detroit, a city that knows first-hand what a debt crisis looks like.

“Unlike Detroit, the US government can’t declare bankruptcy to get out from under its mountain of debt growing at more than $1 trillion a year. But even without bankruptcy, that’s a recipe for an economic catastrophe that would make the 2008 financial collapse pale in comparison. And when it comes, it will be programs like defence, Medicare and Social Security that take the biggest hits.

“To avoid that outcome, we are going to have to get serious about reining in out-of-control spending.”

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TOP PAY

The chief executives of America’s 350 leading companies took home an average $17.2m last year, 278 times the salary of their average worker. A new survey by the Economics Policy Institute found the average pay of a top US CEO has grown by 1,007.5% in the past four decades, while a typical worker’s grew by just 11.9%. The trend is so dramatic even CEOs are sounding the alarm. Ray Dalio, the founder of the world’s biggest hedge fund, warned this year that the US wealth gap was becoming a “national emergency.”

Byron Auguste says the US labour market is broken, and to fix it we need an “Opportunity Marketplace:” new rules and tools “to empower Americans without college degrees to earn more, in better jobs, and to gain new skills at much lower financial risk.” (Guardian briefing, 8/14)

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Collateral damage: Germany’s economy

As the trade war rages between America and China, export-orientated economies are caught in the crossfire. Figures out today showed that Germany’s economy contracted by 0.1% in the second quarter compared to the first. Exports appear to have taken some flak. So has industrial production – particularly car making, which suffered a blow from last year’s changes to emissions-testing rules. German industrial weakness tends to spread eastwards, thanks to tightly-knit manufacturing supply chains: growth in Slovakia, also out today, was modest (0.4% on the previous quarter), though Hungary’s (1.1%) was stronger. Despite Germany’s limping manufacturing, household spending has soldiered on. But how long can consumers hold out? In the face of slowing demand, BASF, a chemicals maker, is cutting 6,000 jobs. Some firms are scaling back working hours. Economists hope that fiscal policy might come to the rescue. But so far German politicians show little inclination to change their tight-fisted ways to defend growth. (The Economist Briefing, 8/14)

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LETTER FROM GHANA

“Tolerance now means, if you don’t agree with me you are my enemy.

The NPP Government is ruling like a dictatorship with reckless abandon. They have mortgaged the Nation to China, borrow more money than all other Governments put together in just three years with absolutely nothing to show for it.

“Those of Us who can feel the rumblings are praying for it to pass us by. Unfortunately the Nation is been driven into survival mode and behaves abnormally. Reactionary rather than reasonable response.

“Like all wars in Africa, it will start as NPP against NDC but quickly degenerate in ethnic wars with some tribes splitting on the Akans and Ewes. Ghanaians have nowhere to go but pray.” (8/13)

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FORGOTTEN ROLES

The movie “Mission of Honor” tells the story of the R.A.F.’s 303 Squadron during World War II’s Battle of Britain. This was a squadron made up of Polish volunteers. Poles accounted for 20% of pilots at this critical time for Great Britain. After the war, most were sent back to Poland and died at the hands of Stalin.

I doubt there will ever be a movie about the Rhodesians who fought in the Battle of Britain, including the “rebel” leader, Ian Smith. Rhodesia was also a training ground for British RAF pilots, thousands of miles away in the safety of the African bush.

Without the Rhodesians and the Poles, it’s doubtful Britain would have won the battle in the skies. That would have meant a German victory, altering the outcome of the Second World War. After the war, Britain betrayed both.

There have been an increasing number of articles warning about the global economy. The latest predicts a depression worse than the Great Depression. None are specific, in terms of “when” but all say the signs are there.

The most common problem cited is debt. Governmental debt is already over $22 trillion in the US. This is the highest amount any country in history has ever owed, so it’s difficult to predict what will happen. In addition, there’s also corporate and private debt. The figures given do not include mortgage debt, which is also extremely high. Nor do they include the annual commitments for Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security and other government programs, the so-called entitlements.

The 2008 financial crash started as a mortgage failure. So did the 1873 crash. It began in Austria-Hungary and spread around the world. This particular crash was known as The Great Depression, more than fifty years before the depression of the thirties. It would be a mistake to think it cannot happen again.

In fact, depressions have been a regular feature in America’s history. There have been as many as 47 recessions and depressions since independence. After the end of the Revolutionary War, there was a depression, in which the economy slumped by 50%. The depression of 1873 lasted 25 years, on and off. Unemployment was at 50% in the 1896 election, resulting in the highest turnout ever – a full 80% of voters participated that year.

Not every year saw the economy in deep depression. It came in three waves. It finally ended with the Spanish-American War, which got the economy moving again.

PANIC OF 1873

The 1873 depression in the US started with the collapse of Jay Cooke & Co., then a major component of the American banking establishment. Contributory failures were the post-Civil War inflation, rampant speculative investment and losses in the Chicago and Boston fires (1871 & 1872). Bank reserves plummeted in the first two months from $50 million to $17 million.

“The failure of the Jay Cooke bank, followed quickly by that of Henry Clews, set off a chain reaction of bank failures and temporarily closed the New York stock market. Factories began to lay off workers as the United States slipped into depression. The effects of the panic were quickly felt in New York, and more slowly in Chicago, Virginia City, Nevada (where silver mining was active), and San Francisco.

“The New York Stock Exchange closed for ten days starting 20 September. By November 1873 some 55 of the nation’s railroads had failed, and another 60 went bankrupt by the first anniversary of the crisis. Construction of new rail lines, formerly one of the backbones of the economy, plummeted from 7,500 miles (12,070 km) of track in 1872 to just 1,600 miles (2,575 km) in 1875. 18,000 businesses failed between 1873 and 1875. Unemployment peaked in 1878 at 8.25%. Building construction was halted, wages were cut, real estate values fell and corporate profits vanished. ” (Panic of 1873, Wikipedia)

GRUNDERKRACH

I single out the 1873 depression because of the similarities in the global situation today. The depression in German speaking countries is known as the Grunderkrach, or Founders Crash. When Germany was united following the Franco-Prussian war, a lot of money flowed into the country, mostly from French war reparations. Loans were then made, mostly for mortgages. When people couldn’t pay them, the banking system collapsed. This spread to the US and Britain. It was the beginning of the end of Britain’s global supremacy.

The Great Recession of 2008 began as a housing crisis. It actually began two years earlier when housing prices started falling. For years previously house prices had been rising fast. Millions of people bought homes, homes they could not afford. The banks loaned to people who should not have had loans. It was a recipe for disaster.

The same thing is happening again. Bad loans and speculative investments are pervasive. Student loans are so high they could be the cause of a collapse by themselves. Government debt is at an all-time high as are corporate debt and consumer, non-mortgage debt (credit cards).

I am reminded of what the late President of France, Charles de Gaulle, said over 50 years ago. He did not want Britain to join the EU (he had incredible foresight!). He dismissed the US and the UK as “the Anglo Saxon debtor nations.” The British-American economic systems have been built on massive debt. It works well . . . for a while! Eventually, there comes the day of reckoning.

That may be this year.

We should never have borrowed so much money, especially after the Crash of 2008. Often it’s been encouraged by government, when it makes little sense. Social engineering has boosted the value of homes and increased the number of loans (more profits). A government decree made under the last administration was that all neighborhoods should be 25% minority; the only way to achieve that was to give 100% loans to people who had never owned a house. Additionally, 100% loans have been made to immigrants, who have had little time to learn how the economy works in the US.

Remember, at stake here is America’s global leadership role. A serious set-back for the economy would weaken the US.

It’s interesting here to note that the euro is set up very differently, with government borrowing limited to 3%. The euro has its own problems, but could emerge as the greater currency in the event of a global depression. It’s already used by more people than the US dollar.

Debt can mean the borrower ends up in servitude to the lender. Note the following warning from scripture: Proverbs 22:7 7 “The rich rules over the poor, And the borrower is servant to the lender.”

This is a far cry from the promised blessings for obedience:

Deuteronomy 15:6 says: “For the Lord your God will bless you just as He promised you; you shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow; you shall reign over many nations, but they shall not reign over you.”

A second cause of financial concern is impending TRADE WARS. These will slow down the global economy. Once again, uncertainty is an issue here.

A third reason the global economy is at risk is BREXIT, now less than two months away. This could seriously affect inter-European trade.

A fourth factor, increasingly seen, is the economic Rule of Inequality. This is an economic law that predicts the likelihood of revolution based on the gap between the rich and the poor in any country. China is very concerned about this. There is only one country with a greater gap and that’s the US. Trump’s election was our “revolution” – if he is not able to deliver, there will be trouble ahead.

There are many countries around the world with a similar gap. France is going through weekly demonstrations about the rising gap between rich and poor; Venezuela and Zimbabwe are on the brink of revolution.

Other factors to watch are China’s slowdown and even the weather. Both can impact economies.

The above are all the predictables. There may be other factors, unpredicatables, such as war, that can add to economic woes.

It remains to be seen. But the warnings are there. The only question is “When?”

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RUSSIA & CHINA POSE BIGGEST THREATS TO US

“Former national security adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski warned in 1997 that the greatest long-term threat to US interests would be a “grand coalition” of China and Russia, ‘”united not by ideology but by complementary grievances.” This coalition “would be reminiscent in scale and scope of the challenge once posed by the Sino-Soviet bloc, though this time China would likely be the leader and Russia the follower.”

Nobody listened back then, but now it’s becoming clear that the two countries are cooperating to deal with what each perceives as the American threat. The latest development is in Venezuela, where they are supporting President Maduro and condemning the US for backing the “usurper,” Juan Guaido.

In the past, the US has thought a Sino-Russian entente outlandish. Only now it’s happening. As Mr. Brzezinski warned, it’s not that they have a lot in common, but rather they share a common enemy.

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UK TO CRASH OUT OF THE EU

Now, nothing can stop Brexit from happening. Even many supporters of remaining in the EU see that. The way Europe has treated the UK will make it impossible to avoid a hard Brexit. (This assumes no change of heart in the EU.)

The facts are that British incompetence has led to Europe just wanting to get it over with. Looking back on almost 50 years of membership there is a realization that Britain has never been a good fit, either, so why try to keep the British in?

A third reason is NATO. Most of the other European countries sense that the US is pulling out of NATO, that it doesn’t want the responsibility or cost of defending the other members. This is why Europe is trying to put together its own military force. Britain, more pro-American, would only get in the way of this.

So, expect a full Brexit on March 29th.

This will not prevent Mrs. May running around Europe like a chicken with its head cut-off!

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BOOK QUOTE

“From July 1780 until the end of the year, the Catawba River Valley and the adjacent northern districts were the scenes of some of the most brutal warfare ever fought in what is now the United States. It was a civil war, with all its horrors, as neighbors and families turned on one another with a vengeance.” (page 140, Partisans and Redcoats, by Walter Edgar, 2001)

Bernard Lewis was a British American writer on international affairs. He was an expert on oriental studies and Islam. He died this year.

Mark Steyn wrote the following about him in his weekly column:

“Bernard Lewis, the west’s preeminent scholar of Islam, worked for British intelligence through the grimmest hours of the Second World War. “In 1940, we knew who we were, we knew who the enemy was, we knew the dangers and the issues,” he told The Wall Street Journal. “In our island, we knew we would prevail, that the Americans would be drawn into the fight. It is different today. We don’t know who we are, we don’t know the issues, and we still do not understand the nature of the enemy.” All true. (12/31)

Thanks to digital television, you can now see old TV shows from the 60’s. That includes British TV shows, such as The Saint, Danger Man, the Avengers and Doctor Who. I quite like the first two, but never enjoyed the last two. I am one of the few people left alive who can remember seeing the premiere of the first episode of “Dr Who.” I seem to remember it was made on a budget of about twenty pounds! (Ok, so I exaggerate! A little.)

Anyway, I occasionally watch “The Saint” and “Danger Man” if only to see the England I grew up in, the England that Bernard Lewis was writing about. Back then, over fifty years ago, the Citizens of England were English. Their ancestors had lived on the island for over one thousand years. Now they come from anywhere and everywhere. This has complicated life immensely. Now we don’t know who we are, we don’t see the enemy clearly and we certainly do not understand the nature of the enemy.

Another thing strikes me – there was no obsession with Europe. These programs were made 50 to 60 years ago, before Britain entered the EU. Note for all those panicking over Brexit, nobody was starving and Britain played a major role internationally, as “Danger Man” showed.

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JAMESTOWN

“Jamestown,” on the surface, is a very good show. It’s based on fact, though the individual stories are fictional. The physical challenges are all there. It’s set in 1619, the year that the first females landed in the colony, after twelve years. It also happens to be the first year that slaves were imported into America. Additionally, it was the year that the first democracy was established in the Americas.

People often forget that the American colonies were democracies, that they each had their own House of Burgesses, or whatever they chose to call it. In colonial Williamsburg you can go into the House of Burgesses and see the colonial parliament as it was. Now, there’s an attempt to denigrate this by claiming that the United States owes its origins and inspiration to the Iroquois Confederacy, the union of six (Native American) tribes that dominated the north east of the country.

It’s all a part of the ongoing denigration of the Anglo –Saxon – Celtic peoples who really did found the colony of Virginia and the other colonies. “Jamestown” will likely digress to show that the African slaves and the Native Americans contributed more than their fair share to the economic development of the colony. History is being rewritten as we slide ever further into multiculturalism and political correctness! The second series begins Monday on PBS.

The Bible says: “where there is no vision, the people perish.” (Proverbs 29:18) The people who founded Jamestown had a vision of establishing an English colony with representative government. It was also dedicated to Protestantism.

It led, in time, to the establishment of the United States of America.

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BREXIT is yet another example of identity politics, the struggle of half the people to reclaim their national identity and birth right.

“In theory, Britain is leaving the EU on 29 March 2019. But the legal small print, published by Brussels, shows what this means. Parliament will be asked to ratify a deal which clearly admits that ‘all references to ‘Member States’ and competent authorities of Member States . . . shall be read as including the United Kingdom.’ (Article 7) So the UK will be bound by EU laws, at least during a transition period. But this ‘transition period’ can be be made to last forever (Article 132). And even if a successor deal is agreed, the UK will have signed away other rights for years to come.” (“The top 40 horrors lurking in the small print of Theresa May’s Brexit deal,” The Spectator, 12.30 18.)

The title of this article says it all. “The top 40- horrors” in the proposed agreement illustrate that Brexit is impossible if the UK pushes for a deal with the EU. Better to go ahead with no deal on March 29th.

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A GOOD YEAR FOR ISRAEL

Israel’s identity is clearer – it’s the national home of the Jewish people.

Things have been going the country’s way, as highlighted by an article in “Israel Today.” “Everything Israel Endured and achieved in 2018” (dated 1.1.19).

Firstly, there was President Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. This was followed recently by Australia. Guatemala and Brazil are two other nations that have changed their stance.

Secondly, the US and some other western countries finally decided to act against the “pay for slay” policy of the Palestinians. Under this policy, the Palestinians forked out $355 million annually to terrorists’ families, compensating them for the loss of a family member engaged in acts of terror. The US decided to withhold $215 million annually to the PA under the Taylor Force Act, named after an American murdered in Israel by a Palestinian terrorist.

The Trump Administration also decided to stop funding the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), an organization that gives aid to Palestinians.

Thirdly, thanks largely to outgoing US Ambassador Nikki Haley, the UN voted to condemn Hamas, in a vote that was 87 for and 57 against. (There are 57 Muslim nations in the Islamic Conference.)

Another very real sign of progress has been Israel’s reaching out to Sunni Arab states, finding areas of common interest with Saudi Arabia, Oman and other Gulf Arab states. The Sunni Arab countries all share a common fear of Iran.

Prime Minister Netanyahu also visited Chad and Azerbaijan, two Muslim countries a long way from Israel. Right now, he is in Brazil, a country whose new conservative government is going to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.

The like-minded Austrian Chancellor, Sebastian Kurz, has been working on measures to stop anti-semitism from becoming a bigger problem in the EU.

Mr. Kurz, sometimes labeled a “Nazi” for his right wing views, has ironically turned out to be Israel’s best friend in the EU.

“On the security front, the year began with a huge Israeli success when a 100-man strong Mossad team succeeded in stealing a large part of the secret Iranian nuclear archive under the noses of the mullahs in Tehran. The more than 11,000 documents and disks that the Mossad smuggled to Israel indicated that Iran has never abandoned its plan to obtain a nuclear weapon.”

So, 2018 was a good year for Israel.

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NEW US CONGRESS HAS A RECORD NUMBER OF WOMEN

The former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt may not be the first person you would think of when you ponder Isaiah 3:12: “As for my people, children are their oppressors and women rule over them.” But the late First Lady did inadvertently shed some light on the scripture.

In a 1951 radio program, which I heard on BBC Radio 4, she enthusiastically spoke about the role women had played in Congress. At the time women had only had the vote for thirty years.

“All the great social reforms have taken place since women got the vote”, was the verdict of Mrs. Roosevelt.

If you overlook the first social reform, Prohibition, which was a disaster, others include social security. Her husband, Franklin Roosevelt, was responsible for the three R’s, Relief, Recovery and Reform and set America on the road to socialism in the first five years of his presidency.

If you accept the claim that “all the great social reforms have taken place since women got the vote,” another way of putting this is that “the road to national bankruptcy began in the 1930’s with all the great social reforms,” for every social reform adds to the nation’s debts.

And this new Congress is set to increase them further.

While the media boasts of “diversity,” and much has been made of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’ radical socialism, more social reforms are expected to follow. Her top two priorities are Medicare for all and forgiveness of student debt. Norah O’Donnell this morning announced enthusiastically, talking of the new entrants to Congress, that “Trump has met his match!”

Our national identity is being threatened, with all this talk of “diversity” and radical socialism.

On Wednesday, I was watching the news on CBS at 7am. Quite some time was spent on divided families at the border. Leeson had just come downstairs and was playing with his toys close to the TV.

At one point, a member of Congress described the President in most unflattering terms. Leeson immediately said I shouldn’t watch the news any more because all the people on it are always saying bad things. He asked that I switch to cartoons, which I did. The day immediately improved and continued to get better as I took him fishing in the afternoon, away from any “Breaking News” on my phone.

In the evening, instead of watching “DW News” and the “BBC” on PBS (each offers a 25-minute international news summary), I went to the pub with a friend. Again, it was infinitely preferable to watching the news.

The last few days has been quite depressing. Once again, I feel like I’m living through the last days of the Roman Empire. Rome, you will remember, was invaded by the “barbarians,” non-Romans who got into the empire and eventually took over.

You would think we would have learned the lesson. But no, we haven’t. In the United States, approximately two-thirds of voters want the “barbarians” to come in and take over, although they wouldn’t express it in so many words. They basically want families breaking the law by illegally entering the country to be able to remain and stay together, receiving free education and health care at public expense, joining gangs, sending money back to their country of origin, etc., etc.

It’s not just an American problem. Western European nations are also finding it impossible to stop the flood of immigrants from poorer parts of the world. The so-called “refugees” from the Middle East and Africa are mostly economic migrants, looking for more money and an easier life.

Prior to World War II, this problem did not exist in the West. But after World War II, with the creation of welfare states, especially in western Europe, there has been a flood of people into western countries. An additional factor has been what is sometimes called “white guilt” over past “sins” (colonialism and slavery mostly).

LACK OF CLEAR THINKING

An article in the Wall Street Journal last Friday warned that Social Security and Medicare (almost free medical care for the elderly) will soon be broke. The only solution, claimed the writer, was more immigrants. Younger people would pay the taxes that would keep both programs growing. (“Social Security needs immigrants,” George Melloan, WSJ, 6/15).

Such articles only encourage the invasion of the West. Here’s another in today’s Wall Street Journal:

Aging America
“The surge of retiring baby boomers is reshaping the U.S. into a country with fewer workers to support the elderly – a shift that will add to strains on retirement programs such as Social Security and sharpen the national debate on the role of immigration in the workforce. For most of the past few decades, the ratio of retiree-aged adults to those of working age barely budged. In 1980, there were 19 U.S. adults age 65 and over for every 100 Americans between 18 and 64, census figures show. That number barely edged up over the next 30 years. But there has been a rapid shift since then. By 2017, there were 25 Americans 65 and older for every 100 people in their working years, according to new census figures released Thursday that detail age and race for every county.” (Matt Murray, The Ten-Point).

What is more logical is that, in order to grow the economy, there should be an end to abortion. This would give the US at least another million people a year, providing the young workers that are needed to fund social security and Medicare. How come the writer of the article never thought of this?

What’s happening in the world is this – while people in the West severely limit the size of their families, people in poorer countries do not. Inevitably, the surplus people in less developed countries move to the richer nations.

In Africa, people want to have lots of children to take care of them in old age; in the Middle East, the reasons may be different – the Palestinians want to outnumber the Israelis, for example, to overwhelm and overcome them in a future conflict.

An additional factor is that many of the poorer countries in the world are “failed states,” with few economic opportunities and a great deal of political uncertainty and gang violence. People want to flee these bad situations, but their culture doesn’t change when they move to the West. Inner cities struggle with ethnic gang conflict.

“The existential question, however, thus remains: How does the West, America included, stop the flood tide of migrants before it alters forever the political and demographic character of our nations and our civilization? (“Trump and the invasion of the west,” Pat Buchanan, 6/19).

CHANGES IN EUROPE

European attitudes toward migrants are changing. As I write, the future of German Chancellor Angela Merkel looks very uncertain, as her coalition falters over the issue of migrants; meanwhile, the new Italian government is refusing to accept any more refugees while committing itself to expel over half a million people, mostly from Africa; Austria has turned against refugees and seems set to join the Visegrad Group of four nations who share the same approach; the United Kingdom, which managed to preserve freedom of speech during England’s “darkest hour,” reacts to any bad news on migrants by limiting freedom of expression. Populism and populists are on the rise.

If Austria joins the Visegrad Group, it will make a total of five nations. These eastern European nations seem likely to be the eastern leg of the revived Roman Empire, predicted in Daniel 2. The prophecy talks of two legs with ten toes. According to Wikipedia:

“the VisegrádGroup . . . is a cultural and political alliance of four Central European states – the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia, that are members of the European Union (EU) – for the purposes of advancing military, cultural, economic and energy cooperation with one another.”

Of interest, all five countries are Catholic and a century ago, they were all partly or wholly in the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

The migrant crisis is a major concern shared by these nations, all of whom want to preserve their Catholic and cultural heritage.

MINGLING WON’T WORK

Daniel’s account from the sixth century BC even prophesies that mingling of the races will be a major problem in Europe at this time. “And as the toes of the feet were partly of iron and partly of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly fragile. As you saw iron mixed with ceramic clay, they will mingle with the seed of men; but they will not adhere to one another, just as iron does not mix with clay.” (Daniel 2:42-43)

Verse 44 shows that this prophecy is for our time today. This verse shows that the revived Roman Empire will re replaced by the Kingdom of God. “And in the days of these kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed; and the kingdom shall not be left to other people; it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever.”

Will the Kingdom of God be a multicultural paradise? Will political correctness be the law of the land?

While the Bible tells us that “God shows no partiality” (Acts 10:34), we are also reminded in the same book that He created the nations and set their borders. Discrimination is wrong, but integration just isn’t going to work!

“And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their pre-appointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings.” (Acts 17:26)

Footnote: As I write, the local news is reporting that the “Asian and Hispanic” population in Michigan is rising, while the number of Caucasians is falling. The invasion continues.

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STATS SAY IT ALL ON AFRICA

“In 1960, the entire population of sub-Saharan Africa was around 230 million people. Today, it is roughly 1 billion. According to the United Nations, by the middle of this century, it could well reach 2 billion. In 50 years or so, more than half of the world’s entire population growth will be in Africa. Two fifths of the world’s population will live on the continent. A couple of generations ago, sub-Saharan Africa had no cities with populations bigger than 1 million people. Today it has dozens. (“How long before the world’s youngest continent revolts?” – Daniel Knowles, Unherd, 6/19)

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KIM JONG WON

President Trump’s approval rating over North Korea is now at 55%, after what is perceived as a successful summit in Singapore.

The Economist had a different view. It’s cover this week shows the two leaders meeting in front of the two flags, with the headline: “Kim Jong Won.” That wasn’t the only humor in the magazine, inspired by the summit. A cartoon on page 6 showed Kim Jong Un telling his military that if they cooperate with the US, President Trump will treat them like “close friends and allies,” at which point a collective groan of “Oh no,” goes up from them all. Allies of the US haven’t done too well lately.

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COMING UP – ONE MORE HUNGRY NATION

Little noticed by the press is that South Africa is moving toward the confiscation of white-owned farms, confiscation without compensation. It has even been suggested that all property owned by people of European descent should be seized by the state and redistributed.

This has already been done, in neighboring Zimbabwe (formerly Rhodesia). The result was that millions of people starved to death, while the farms were simply un-used.

Most African farmers are subsistence farmers, meaning that they just grow enough for their own needs. They do not farm on a commercial scale, like white farmers. Rhodesia became the breadbasket of Africa due to its white commercial farmers; the only time the word “basket” is used now is in describing the successor country of Zimbabwe as a “basket case.”

Why should South Africa be any different?

Meanwhile, also from South Africa, comes this news:

Only five out of 696 hospitals‚ clinics got a ‘pass mark’ in SA 6 June 2018

“According to the Office of Health Standards Compliance (OHSC) report‚ only five of the 696 hospitals and clinics it inspected in 2016-17 complied with the Department of Health’s norms and standards to achieve an 80% “pass mark.”

“They shall commit harlotry, but not increase;Because they have ceased obeying the Lord.” (Hosea 4:10)

Nearly twenty years ago, the CDC released an ambitious proposal to “eliminate syphilis from the United States.” The plan seems to have worked rather poorly. Soon after the proposal’s issue, infection rates began to head in the wrong direction and then worsened. From 2000 until 2016, the most recent year for which data are available, the rates of syphilis quadrupled. Congenital syphilis, a nearly eradicated condition in which the infection is passed from mother to fetus, has also sharply increased – by nearly 28% from a low base in one year. That is distressing not only because the disease is easily detected and treated by course of antibiotics, but also because afflicted mothers have a 40% chance of a stillbirth.

“The problem is not only limited to syphilis. Other sexually transmitted diseases (STD’s) are roaring back. Rates of gonorrhea, after a brief period of decline, surged 46% since 2010. Chlamydia, an extremely common STD which can result in female infertility, has nearly doubled since 2000. Nearly every sort of American has been affected.” (“Rash behavior,” The Economist, 6/16)

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DEMOCRACY IN REVERSE

“Indices of the health of democracy show alarming deterioration since the financial crisis of 2007-8 . . . The Economist Intelligence Unit . . . has 89 countries regressing in 2017, compared with only 27 improving.” (“How democracy dies,” The Economist, 6/16)